Making a difference in Oakland.

Abel Guillen

Breaking: Although the complaint has been removed from next Tuesday’s agenda by Council Members Annie Campbell Washington and Abel Guillen with no new date, we plan on packing the chambers and speaking during Open Forum. Be sure to sign up for Open Forum and/or item 2, Determination of Scheduling Outstanding items, on the link in the article.

From the Supplemental Meeting Agenda: “The Item Regarding “HSI/ICE Raid In West Oakland On August 16, 2017” Was Moved To The Pending List No Date Specific By The November 9, 2017 Rules And LegislationCommittee.”

The situation is untenable for paperless immigrants who live in fear of being ripped from their lives and creates more distrust among Oaklanders when the department issues conflicting or false reports. This cannot and should not have to wait for a lengthy investigation, and until the Police Commission is seated this December, the department will continue to investigate itself.

Let us know if you still wish to join the complaint–the more the merrier politically speaking. You can email pamelaadrake@gmail.com. See you on Tuesday.

On an August morning I awoke to find that Oakland twitter was freaking out over what many supposed was an ICE raid in West Oakland. It turns out they were right. The DHS, Department of Homeland Security and ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was in the process of hauling several members of a Guatemalan family out of their homes with the assistance of the Oakland Police Department. One was detained and another was returned to the home, purportedly a male teenager who was in no danger of being trafficked by anyone in that home.

I am a member of a group called the California Sanctuary Campaign. We’ve pushed the city to enact ordinances to prevent the local administration including our police department from becoming complicit in the harassment and removal of hardworking but paperless residents from the city they call home. The Oakland Privacy Advisory Commission led by attorney Brian Hofer has taken the lead in proposing legislation to protect residents from the predatory folks in DC.

But this particular morning OPD soon sent out a press advisory that they were assisting ICE in detaining suspects in a sex trafficking operation involving youth. So I suspended judgement because I never want to find myself on the wrong side of protecting children, mostly young women, from the horrors of that trade. I trusted the OPD’s Media Relations folks not to lie on something this important, even given that they have done this many times before. See the Celeste Guap case, etc. http://reason.com/blog/2017/07/13/oakland-police-corruption-comes-out

Here is what has been documented so far on the issue of youth sex trafficking — “But there is no evidence that the raid was conducted pursuant to any sex trafficking allegations. OPD later deleted the notification and issued a different one stating it was a “human trafficking” investigation instead.

The one person who was arrested by HSI or ICE is now awaiting deportation proceedings. So here we have a situation in which the people of Oakland’s reps voted to withdraw our city from assisting ICE in enforcing civil immigration laws but they continue to do so. Did ICE lie to OPD to get their assistance when it was not a criminal pursuit? That’s entirely possible but we don’t know as Chief Kirkpatrick insists that OPD had to assist, using whatever reasoning is available, depending on the day the department is asked.

Photo by Darwin BondGraham

To make matters worse, the City Council passed two ordinances that deal with how we react when the Feds say jump–one that eliminates MOUs in which OPD can join federal task forces and operate within them with impunity-and another that requires public hearings when new agreements are even being considered. OPD’s actions seem to have violated both these progressive policies.

I know that when Chief Kirkpatrick came to town, most folks were open to giving her a chance to pull together our demoralized and disgraced police force. We wanted and needed that to happen. I was a member of at least two groups that met with and are still meeting with her but I think I’ve seen and heard enough.

Hofer continues, “It’s this last issue that is motivating me to hold her accountable – by attempting to maintain the ICE MOU, and attempting to derail a federal task-force transparency ordinance, the Chief has twice chosen the feds over the people of Oakland. We do not share the same values, and in the era of Trump and Sessions, this is dangerous for the people of Oakland.”

As a result of these actions, Chair Hofer has filed a complaint against OPD that is now being investigated by Internal Affairs, not the new police commission since it has not been seated yet, that accuses the chief of making numerous false statements to the public about the need to assist ICE in a civil detainment plus of asserting that the new city policy had not gone into effect at that time. I have joined that complaint along with Pastor J Alfred Smith Jr, Margaret Cunningham, Judith Stacey, Sharon Rose and Linda Olvera, all of the California Sanctuary Campaign and Tracy Rosenberg of Media Alliance.

We would be happy to have you or your organization join us in signing the complaint. John Jones III of CURYJ has already joined us and we are expecting others, many others. Notify me by responding to this blog and then please attend the Oakland City Council Public Safety Committee Meeting, November 14th, 6 pm, agenda Item no. 4 fill out a speaker card online.

If we want sanctuary to mean something, if we want an accountable police department–and humane policies for all our residents–we have to back up our stated goals with actions. Join us.

Guest blog by Margaretta Lin, Executive Director of the Dellums Institute for Social Justice and former Oakland Deputy City Administrator–includes specific asks of the City Council during its final budget talks. Please forward to your CMs and sign up to speak on Item 13!

PREVENT HOMELESSNESS BY FUNDING ANTI-DISPLACEMENT

On Monday, June 26th, the Oakland City Council will determine whether Oakland’s new homeless epidemic will continue to surge. The Mayor’s budget allocated no funds for anti-displacement and homeless prevention, other than for the City’s Rent Adjustment Program, which does not advocate on the behalf of individual tenants. By allocating only a small housing pot for housing, the Council President’s proposed budget pits the needs of tenants facing evictions against the homeless.

The vast majority of Oakland residents identify anti-displacement and homelessness as their top priority. Yet the Council President’s proposed budget only allocates $1.77 million over 2 years for anti-displacement—less than the budget proposal for the City of Berkeley, with ¼ of Oakland’s population! None of Oakland’s $1.163 BILLION in General Funds is being proposed for anti-displacement or homeless services.

Contact Oakland Council Members NOW and ask them to represent Oakland residents’ values—FUND ANTI-DISPLACEMENT AND HOMELESS PREVENTION!

Council President Larry Reid, District 7, 510.238.7529, lreid@oaklandnet.com

Oakland has lost over 36,000 African Americans—26%–since 2000, a bigger decline than major cities like San Francisco and DC. The homeless rate has increased by 39% in 2 years as median rents increased by 54%. 70% of low-income tenants going through legal evictions have no lawyer and 3,000 tenants have limited access to housing counseling.

Oakland developed a model anti-displacement safety net with proven strategies of coordinated housing counseling, legal services, and emergency housing funds for low-income tenants and elderly homeowners. City quarterly reports showed that INVESTING IN PREVENTION WORKS to keep people in their homes and out of homelessness.

The problem has been that the City provided limited funds since there are no dedicated funding sources for anti-displacement and homeless prevention strategies.

Let’s turn the tide on Oakland’s displacement and new homeless epidemic and invest in preventing more human suffering. That’s how we’ll build an equitable and inclusive Oakland for All! Please contact the Oakland City Council!!

My mini-Oakland-voter-guide:
As your neighbor, small business advocate, local politics chair of the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club, single mom, and former teacher, and, oh an elected representative of the Democratic party, these are some of the candidates and propositions I urge you to support. Jean Quan, Oakland’s first woman and first Asian mayor, who rose through the ranks, leading local government boards and agencies putting our youth first, is far and away my first choice for mayor of Oakland.

As a woman who has been somewhat of a trail blazer with a small “t”, whose mother was a newspaper reporter who blazed trails in her time, I have to say, I resent the notion that Ms. Quan has to prove her worth over and over.

In any other town, when a city is improving in as many ways as Oakland is with less violent crime, whose streets, sidewalks and parks are filled with families, couples, youth and old folks from all economic backgrounds and ethnicities picnicking, jogging, bicycling and enjoying the beauty that is Oakland together-why should this mayor have to defend herself against so many challengers, so many untested folks who have not done the work and who do not offer the results that this mayor has shown us? No, I believe if it weren’t for sexism, racism, biased press coverage, and yes, her own inability to be glib, including her occasional tongue-tied responses to reporters, there would be no consideration for any of these other candidates.

On the other hand, you could write an entire book about Jerry Brown’s gaffes, including the numbers and groups of people he offended and his general inattentiveness to Oakland’s regular folk. You could talk about the police chiefs he went through and the mistakes he made with city managers.

Jeez, that was years ago and even now some folks who run the Coliseum are trying to bring one of them back, Robert Bobb, to shore up our sports teams that Jerry so glibly dissed. We might have had a downtown A’s stadium by now had he cared enough to consider it, but for so many reasons, some very obvious and some not as obvious, his mistakes were shrugged away.

But Jean Quan has worked diligently to keep our teams without sacrificing our community’s largesse or dignity. We’ve been through many mayors and many proposals for the former Oakland army base and still nothing had happened-remember the Wayans’ studio, the shopping centers, the car sales lots, but now we’re doing with that land what is was meant for-building a logistics center to move goods into and out of our port, one of the most important ports in the country. This port had begun to lag behind others on the West Coast just as trade to the Far East started to pick up-now it will once again become the economic engine of the Bay Area, and possibly all of California. Jean Quan made the tough decisions and fought for the funding to make it happen. It will provide family and community sustaining jobs for the Oaklanders who need them most way into the future.

To make sure that our long-time residents are prepared for those jobs and because many aren’t, she is working directly with our community colleges to build that school to career pipeline, to insure that classes are available for youth who need a GED, specialized training, and counseling for those thousands of jobs which will develop out of our logistics center.

Mayor Quan spends much of her time fundraising for the summer jobs program, for toys for tots, peace in the parks and all the programs that bring direct city services along with opportunity and hope to the young people and families who live in long-neglected neighborhoods. She now knows many of those kids by name when she holds her barbecues in the park, or knocks on doors, or personally delivers Christmas presents to them. Everyone says they have seen this mayor in the toughest neighborhoods of Oakland more than any other politician, even including their own city council members. It goes without saying that they’ve seen her much more often than our city council member-at-large who is only seen when she is running for office.

Mayor Quan has laid the foundation for so many improvements in this city that if someone else is elected, that work may be able to continue for a while; but I challenge you to find a candidate who will work with and for our youth like this mayor has, and for that, she holds a special place in my heart. Please give her your vote if you agree that Oakland is moving in the right direction and you want a mayor who is already up to speed.

Abel Guillen is my candidate to be our District 2 Council Member. I have known Abel for a number of years now and I like him more each year. He has proven himself as a legislator as President of the Peralta Community Colleges Board. He also is an advocate for our youth. He like Mayor Quan is the child of immigrants, he knows how every day obstacles can become insurmountable and make it almost impossible to succeed without an advocate. He helped students get bus passes so that they would not miss classes at our community colleges. He is already working on securing that school to career pipeline with Mayor Quan that will result in family-sustaining jobs.

Abel is an expert at municipal finance something that the Oakland City Council sorely needs. He is that rare creature-a fiscal expert with a conscience and will make decisions considering all the needs of Oakland residents. Since we have another vote, I suggest neighborhood activist Andrew Park who gets my second. Sorry no suggestions for your 3rd vote but there are lots of reasonable choices out there.

I’ve endorsed Annie Campbell Washington for District 4 even though I cannot vote for her. She is a budget analyst, a level-headed and kind person who knows Oakland, its finances, its neighborhoods and their leaders inside and out. She is also a liberal running against an ideologue. Her opponent was recently scolded by the Sierra Club for using their logo without their endorsement, an endorsement that Annie does have.

Julina Bonilla is running for the Peralta Community College Board to take Abel Guillen’s place. Julina is currently the director of the West Oakland Job Center which was set up to help Oakland residents get at least 50% of the new jobs coming from the port/army base and other projects. She has spent her life working in re-entry programs and advocating for careers in non-traditional jobs for under-served youth. She herself rose through the community college system and is passionate about its needs. She is also a member of the Wellstone Club’s coordinating committee and we have appreciated her organizational skills and clear thinking.

Most of us don’t spend much time thinking about down ballot races like the East Bay Municipal Utility Board, that is, EBMUD our water agency. This year may be different. Many Oakland residents have worked hard to decrease our water usage as the drought drags on, but we watched with horror last spring as leaks, spills, and gushers ran down our streets as pipe after pipe failed and precious drinking water was lost forever. Because we know that we’re lucky enough to flush our toilets, water our gardens, and wash our clothes with some of the best drinking water in the world, we had reason to be upset.

That is why I am voting for Marguerite Young who is running to replace a long-term politician and the former mayor of Piedmont who has shown little leadership on the EBMUD Board. Marguerite is really an expert on water issues, where our water comes from, how to preserve it, and what EBMUD needs to do to prevent its loss. Her slogan is apt, “Make every drop count.”

Measure Z is the renewal of Measure Y with some improvements and restrictions. I have heard all the slanders on this compromise property tax, but I think it has worked well combining neighborhood-oriented law enforcement and programs that promote both intervention and prevention against the kinds of violence that have long plagued Oakland.

Programs like Missey which counsels and serves young women who’ve been caught up in prostitution and the renewed Operation Ceasefire-partially funded by Measure Y and currently saving lives in East and West Oakland-will be continued by extending this existing tax. It also funds some fire services that we desperately need. Given all the budget hits Oakland has endured over the last few years, loss of this fund would be devastating to all Oakland officials. That’s why the leading mayoral candidates have joined together to support it.

I’m excited by the probable passage of Measure FF, the initiative that would raise the minimum wage immediately to $12.25, but I will admit that I was concerned about the suddenness of the increase for our small businesses. I have been convinced by the economic research that these businesses may only have to increase the price of their products by pennies and that the workers who make these low wages will return those dollars to the local economy in buying power.

Proposition 45 was proposed by our Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, himself up for reelection and deserving of it, because he’s grown tired of watching insurance companies increase the rates of individual and small company plans without being able to stop them when they are not justified. Nothing you see in the anti-Prop 45 ads, paid for by our friends on insurance company boards, by the way, is even relevant to the content of this proposition.

This is how the League of Women Voters describes the proposition, “Prop. 45 applies only to individual and employer small-group plans. The Insurance Commissioner would have to approve rate changes for those plans before they could be implemented. The application process would require the company to publicly disclose and justify its requested rates. Consumers or insurance companies could challenge the outcome in court. Rates in effect as far back as November 6, 2012 would be subject to refund if found to be excessive. Under Prop. 45, “rates” would be defined to include any charges that affect cost, such as co-payments, deductibles, installment fees, premium financing, and more.” Vote your self-interest on this proposition.

Prop 47
Here’s how the League describes this prop in a nutshell, “Prop. 47 would reduce the penalty for most nonviolent wobblers and felonies to misdemeanors, unless the defendant has prior convictions for violent and serious crimes. Prop. 47 would permit resentencing for anyone currently serving a prison sentence for any of the offenses reclassified in Prop. 47 as misdemeanors, and certain offenders who have already completed a sentence for one of those felonies may apply to the court to have their convictions changed to misdemeanors.

State savings from Prop. 47 would go to a newly created fund, “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund,” for truancy and drop-out prevention programs in schools, victims’ services, and mental health and drug treatment services designed to keep individuals out of prison and jail.”

After we succeed in passing Prop 47, it’s time its’ time to take on the proliferation of private prisons in addition to tackling the concept of imprisoning whole sectors of our population at a rate and in a style that would warm the heart of your average Inquisitor back to the Middle Ages.

Yes, there are other important initiatives and races on the ballot that deserve your attention. I have picked the ones that are the most important to me. Remember that you can go to Votersedge.org, the former Smart Voter, or CAvotes.org to get more info and background on all the races-state and local-that you might find on your ballot. You can also look up the recommendations of my Democratic Club, Wellstoneclub.org, for more of our endorsed candidates and positions.

Most importantly the last day to register in California is October 20th. You can debate all day about how we make progressive social change or you can urge everyone you know to vote and remind them and remind them again until they do it. Expect a call from me or someone like me on election day until you get out and cast that vote!

I should be walking a precinct today for one of my favorite candidates, but I seem to have injured my back or pulled a muscle. Now I have more sympathy for folks who are slowed or even stopped by lower back pain, but I’m hoping I can still make myself useful by putting down some thoughts on our local political choices.

To start off, we have lots of propositions and lots of pros and cons already. In my Democratic club we’ve continued debating some of them even after we made our recommendations and mailed them out.

It’s a testament to the complexity of making legislation, organizing our state and local budgets, and designing a constitution by the initiative process-well, it’s a mess. Voters have much less time to devote to deciphering them than legislators do and probably less inclination to make them their daily priority.

Then we have the voter equivalent of lobbyists-campaign consultants well versed in the art of advertising. But once these props get on the ballot, often by way of millionaires or corporations, we have to take them seriously.

You can find lots of organizations recommending the right way to vote based on your interest group. I check out many sources before deciding-including the local papers, labor unions, blogs (Tonya Love’s Lovehealthandadvocacy.com is just one of them), and the local Dem clubs to sort these out.

Here are my thumbnail recommendations:

Prop 30-Yes-Flawed but extremely important to stabilizing, if temporarily, our budget and our school system, some progressive taxes combined with some regressive ones but a necessary fix until we are willing to look at Prop 13 with a clear eye.

Prop 31-No-Another crazy scheme to hamstring the Legislature from making budgets in the guise of cleaning up the mess, gives the governor the ability to change or eliminate programs which the Leg voted to spend money on if he doesn’t think we can afford it. It is a constitutional amendment.

Prop 32-Hell No-It prohibits unions from collecting political donations and contributing to candidates while claiming to do the same for corporations which will still fund political campaigns the way they always did. It might as well be called the “Defund the Democratic Party Act” since it eliminates practically the only source of funding that is not from corporations and CEOs.

Prop 33-Stupid No- Aren’t we tired of Mercury Insurance yet? They should be tired of trying to fool us into voting away our right to some kind of control over car insurance costs. Geesh.

Prop 34-Yes-Repeal the death penalty with all its pitfalls-economic and racial injustice and ridiculous waste of public monies. If you were standing outside of San Quentin while they slowly murdered Stanley Tookie Williams like I was, well, please support this.

Prop 35-No-No, it’s not a no-brainer, it’s a mess of an initiative (or is that redundant)? It just adds another layer of people who will be locked away or not allowed to be part of society who may not be traffickers while not punishing other types of exploitation and does not support the victims. There is a law on the books which needs to be funded that supports the victims. Seehttp://www.psmag.com/legal-affairs/prop-35-case-act-undermines-victims-rights-48314/

Prop 36-Yes-Duh, this is a no-brainer. Stop spending our limited dollars on jailing people who have not committed violent crimes rather than educating them. Now if we could just end the war on drugs.

Prop 37-Yes-GMO Labels-In spite of all the ads and the blather that it’s not perfect, it’s just a label and might be the beginning of healthy eating or at least a step in that direction. Something civilized countries are already doing.

Prop 38-No-Munger Initiative-There’s lots of theories on how 30 and 38 affect each other. I’m voting no on 38 and encouraging a strong vote for 30 which goes into effect immediately and pays for more than just K-12 education.

Prop 39-Yes-according to the LA times of October 10, 2012, “Prop. 39 would end tax giveaway, raise $1 billion for California” which was granted by Schwarzenegger and the Dems in the Leg during some crazy backroom deal session. End that now.

Prop 40-Yes-In this case yes means nothing changes but if we forget and vote no; everything changes and we have to do redistricting again to the tune of mucho bucks. Even the Repubs who put this on the ballot have abandoned it but remember that, in the perverse language of “initiative speak”, yes is no, kind of.

Prop A1-Yes. We’ve had lots of arguments on our Wellstone Democratic Club listserve on what the zoo needs or what they’ll do with the funds but most ultimately believe that the kids of Oakland will get lots of benefits from a well-kept, nationally recognized zoo with happy animals. It’s a deal at $12 a year!

Transportation Measure B1-Yes-It will double the sales tax that funds transportation improvements including roads, buses, and BART, but it will keep the cost of tickets for seniors, youth, and disabled affordable.

Local Races:

Oakland City Attorney-Barbara Parker is the only candidate who is qualified to run this large public law office. She is even-handed and objective and has been doing the job ably. Ignore the sturm und drang of Larry Tramutola’s protestations on behalf of Jane Brunner. They only serve to embarrass her record for doing good stuff as a legislator.

D1-Rank your votes-Dan Kalb, Richard Raya, and Don Link in whichever order you choose but that is mine.

D3-No order but for now I pick Nyeisha, Alex , or Lynette/Sean. I know that’s chicken shit but it’s as close as I could get to deciding. Since I don’t live there, I don’t have to make 3 of those choices.

D5-Lots of controversy about Mario and some of it worries me, but I choose change over same old, same old. And, for school board-Mike Hutchinson-strong leadership and real change.

D7-Sheryl Walton is running a strong campaign and you should be out walking for her now. District 7 deserves leadership that gets out of the office and shows up where and when you need them.

At Large Rebecca Kaplan- There is no reason to replace a progressive representative for this seat with a 20 year veteran who spends his time blocking change while encouraging vitriol on the Oakland City Council. Retire Mr. de la Fuente now.

18th Assembly District-Abel Guillen is the guy we need to go to Sacramento and keep track of what Oakland students need. He has both a strong education and finance background. Vote Abel. His office is at 19th Street and Broadway, phone banking and precinct walking continue.